Race to Capture the CDMO Market... Samsung, Celltrion, and Hanmi Clash for Leadership

The renewed excitement surrounding ‘BIO KOREA’ is expected to intensify competition among domestic biopharmaceutical leaders Samsung Biologics, Celltrion, and Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group. As Hanmi Group designates the Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) business as a new growth engine, a fierce battle over the related market seems inevitable.

According to industry sources, Hanmi Pharmaceutical is rapidly emerging as a new competitor in the domestic biopharmaceutical CDMO market. Currently, K-biosimilars are represented by Samsung Biologics and Celltrion, both of which are global market leaders.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical, led by CEO Lim Jong-yoon, the eldest son of the Hanmi Group founder, has identified CDMO as a new revenue business. Hanmi Pharmaceutical recently participated in the 'BIO KOREA 2024' conference hosted by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute on the 9th, where it focused on presenting its vision for the CDMO business.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical plans to differentiate itself in the CDMO business while concentrating on the traditional CDO (Contract Development Organization) and CRO (Contract Research Organization) businesses for new drug development. In addition to its three main new drug development areas?obesity, diabetes, and oncology?Hanmi aims to place significant emphasis on biopharmaceutical CDMO.

The CDMO business is regarded as a sector that guarantees long-term contract orders and fixed profit margins. Hanmi Pharmaceutical has the advantage of mitigating risks by supplementing the expertise lacking in existing CDMO companies through securing core technologies and intellectual property based on its new drug development experience.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical has already glimpsed the potential of the CDMO business through its self-developed new drugs. Last year, Hanmi’s drug for neutropenia, ‘Rolvedon’ (generic name Eflapegrastim, domestic brand name Rolontis), received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Currently, Hanmi is actively expanding its business by continuing partnership discussions with domestic and international pharmaceutical companies at events such as the CPhI Worldwide.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical explained that it plans to compete with domestic leaders like Samsung Biologics and Celltrion by emphasizing differentiation. While most global CDMO companies, including Samsung Biologics, focus on antibody drug businesses, Hanmi intends to concentrate on small molecule CDMO businesses, similar to Lonza.

This approach involves producing drugs by cultivating microorganisms rather than animal cells, which offers higher efficiency. Existing biopharmaceutical manufacturers have facilities for manufacturing using animal cell culture processes, whereas Hanmi Pharmaceutical has specialized facilities for microbial cell culture, primarily used for obesity and diabetes drugs, allowing it to provide specialized services.

Moreover, Hanmi Group has been conducting research to preemptively secure next-generation mechanisms for related drugs since before the pandemic. In particular, its Chinese subsidiary, Beijing Hanmi, has been engaged in related research for a long time.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical plans to maximize corporate value through the CDMO business. The Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group has announced its ambition to enter the ’New Hanmi‘ phase by attracting 1 trillion KRW in investment and achieving 1 trillion KRW in net profit, aiming for a market capitalization of 50 trillion KRW. As forecasted, the value-up of Hanmi Group is currently progressing smoothly. It is known that about 60 biopharmaceuticals for new drug development have started development through antibody production. Industry insiders expect Hanmi to stand shoulder to shoulder with Samsung Biologics and Celltrion in the future, judging by the value of the new drugs it is researching.